There are numerous applications for a clamp for clamping a tubular body. The tubular bodies may be pipes, tubes, hoses and the like which are commonly made of various materials such as plastic, rubber, metal, fabric or a combination thereof. A specific application for which the clamp of the present invention has been found to be particularly suitable is for clamping a fire hose and particularly the larger diameter fire hoses up to as high as a five-inch diameter fire hose.
Briefly, fire hoses are usually folded and carried on the fire truck and when in use are laid out for use along a required course with the inlet coupling at the hydrant and the outlet coupling at a substantial distance from the hydrant which in some cases is, for example, around a corner out of the sight of the operator at the hydrant. In this case it is difficult for the operator to know when to turn on the water at the hydrant. For this situation a clamp closing off flow at the discharge end of the hose allows the fireman to selectively control the flow at the discharge end. In other situations involving the use of fire hoses it may be necessary to cut off the flow to a portion of the hose while it is charged but not flowing and/or to gradually reduce or completely cut off the flow when the water is flowing through the fire hose. Considerable difficulty is encountered in completely cutting off flow through a charged fire hose, and particularly one five inches in diameter, because of the intense pressures involved. The pressure is extremely intense on the clamp just prior to fully closing off the flow and at this time there is a strong tendency for a clamp to be driven along the hose. Another factor in clamping fire hoses is that charged fire hoses are extremely heavy and difficult to lift.
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a simple, durable, reliable, safe, versatile and easy to apply clamp for clamping a variety of types of tubular bodies.
Another object of this invention is to provide a novel clamp that is readily portable and compact for carriage to the point of use, conveniently stored when not in use, and may be applied at one of two operating positions.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a novel clamp that grips a relatively broad area of a tubular body along its full width and a substantial portion of its length as well as having jaw faces with clamping edges spaced along the tubular body and constructed and arranged to prevent the jaws from sliding relative to the body being clamped.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a clamp that is suitable for applying relatively high clamping pressures to accommodate the clamping off of tubular bodies carrying substantial fluid flow under substantial pressures.
Yet a further object of this invention is to provide a novel hose clamp that has a controlled rate of clamping for gradually cutting down, increasing, or shutting off the flow in a tubular body.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a novel hydraulic clamp for fire hoses that may be applied without lifting the fire hose.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel clamp suitable for clamping a wide range of diameters and is suitable for positioning the tubular body upon insertion into a clamping position so that the tubular body does not bunch up during the clamping operation.